Archive for the ‘IMSA Goodrich Radial Challenge’ tag

The list of famous Pintos isn’t very long. There are the Pintos used in film (Cujo and Blues Brothers come to mind), there’s the AVE Mizar flying Pinto, there’s the Pinto involved in the accident that led to Grimshaw vs. Ford Motor Company, and then there’s this 1972 Ford Pinto for sale on Hemmings.com, the one that Pat Bedard and Ron Nash prepared and campaigned in IMSA’s Goodrich Radial Challenge for a series of articles in Car and Driver. After a 40-year barn rest, it’s since been restored and sorted out for racing once again. From the seller’s description:

The engine has been completely gone through and updated with flat-topped pistons, an aluminum Ford Racing head, full roller cam with 0.620 inches of lift, and the latest connecting rod set-up—all coming together to produce a much more powerful engine than originally came with the car. Since then, the Pinto has only had one track day outing (in 2009) to test and tune the final engine configuration. It performed flawlessly.

The current condition of the car is excellent and still as fresh as when Don Sherman restored the car in 2005. The upgraded engine (2009), radiator, suspension components and new wiring (2005) all add to this. The stock German transmission shifts smoothly and quickly and has been gone through. The fire suppression system has been replaced/upgraded, along with a new fuel cell and components (2005). The original seat (designed by famed racer/engineer Mark Donohue) and steering wheel remain and are in excellent condition.

Many spares come with the car, including some of the components removed from the original street-duty Pinto. Items of specific interest are a spare engine block (original Doug Fraser) with good pistons, two cylinder heads, a spare transmission, and the original steel wheels that were replaced with the BWA wheels (pictured) by Sherman. There are boxes of small spare parts, and extensive records and photos from the restoration. Of other note, there are numerous notes Sherman made during the development of the car and later track-timing comparisons hand written during testing. Email correspondence between Sherman and Bob Leire are also in the file. The original magazine articles on the car are included as well.